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Juliette Gréco

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Juliette Gréco was a French singer and actress. She was born in 1927 in Montpellier. During the war her family was in the Resistance; her mother and sister were deported, and Juliette herself, at sixteen, spent months in prison. In 1945 she ended up in Saint-Germain-des-Prés in Paris, the district of cafés and cellar clubs where writers and philosophers gathered. She knew Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, Jacques Prévert and Boris Vian, and was nicknamed the muse of existentialism.

Music and breakthrough

In 1949 she began as a cabaret singer at Le Bœuf sur le toit. She sang texts by poets and writers; Si tu t'imagines by Raymond Queneau was one of her first successes, and in 1950 she received a prize for Je hais les dimanches. Later she sang work by Jacques Brel, Charles Aznavour and Serge Gainsbourg, and albums such as Juliette Gréco chante Mac Orlan (1964) and La Femme (1967). One of her best-known chansons became Déshabillez-moi. From the 1970s her pianist and later husband Gérard Jouannest wrote the music. She also acted in films, including Jean Cocteau's Orphée (1950). Her career lasted sixty years and ended with a farewell tour from 2015. She died in 2020.

Influence

In chanson, the text is what matters, and Gréco turned every song into a small play. She also gave the Paris Left Bank an image: black clothes, dark hair, the artist as bohemian. That image travelled far. Paul McCartney said that The Beatles' Michelle arose from their fascination with Gréco and the Parisian atmosphere around her.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Déshabillez-moi and notice how Gréco delivers the text: she plays with tempo and emphasis, as if playing a role. Notice also how the accompaniment leaves her voice room.

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.

Categories: Artists